


8 Letters

by SummerChilde



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/F, Ficlet, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:22:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29524971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SummerChilde/pseuds/SummerChilde
Summary: "Leave me."Ty Lee leaves.
Relationships: Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 51
Collections: Quote Prompt Memes





	8 Letters

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [geraniumsarebeautiful](https://archiveofourown.org/users/geraniumsarebeautiful/pseuds/geraniumsarebeautiful) in the [quoteonlyprompts](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/quoteonlyprompts) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> "If I know what love is, it is because of you."

“How can you break up with me?” Ty Lee’s brown eyes are staring incredulously up at Azula from where the ex-Firelord-to-be had kicked her off their bed. _Her_ bed now, Azula amends.

Tossing her head back, she lets out a bitter laugh. The motion jangles the iron cuffs around her wrist until a harsh clanging sound is all that echoes throughout the room.

Iroh had wanted to send her to a prison colony. Zuko had protested. Azula couldn’t blame him. He had never known her very well.

_The prison colony would have been an easier punishment to bear. This just robs me of my dignity, rubs salt in the wound._

"I'm a princess chained to her bed-chamber, Ty Lee. What can I offer you?"

Stubborn as ever, Ty Lee says nothing. No matter. Azula always gets what she wants (except when she doesn’t).

“You know, my mother used to tell me I was a monster,” she begins conversationally when Ty Lee still doesn’t move from her place at Azula’s feet.

It’s like ripping open an old wound. It hurts, but Azula’s been through worse.

Besides, this is for _Ty Lee_. Azula pushes through the pain almost effortlessly. “She didn’t think I could ever love.”

As Azula predicted, Ty Lee immediately protests. “She always liked Zuko better. That’s not true!”

 _Right where I want you_. For her lover’s sake, Azula tries not to smile.

“I know. But if I know what love is, it is because of you. Remember that day you left me for Mai? Love is letting go of someone when you’re not good for them or they’re not good for you.”

A tear slips down Ty Lee’s face. Her betrayal of Azula for Mai had taken the two of them ages to work through. It stings that Azula is bringing it back up now, but what hurts Ty Lee almost infinitely more is the way she can taste their ending – and its bitter inevitability – like ashes in her mouth.

“Don’t,” she tries to plead. Of course, Azula doesn’t listen.

“I love you,” the ex-princess insists. It breaks Ty Lee’s heart.

Azula’s eyes turn cold. “So leave me because _I’m not good for you_.”

Ty Lee leaves. She’ll wander for ages before joining the Kiyoshi warriors, dreaming every night about an ex-princess who – at age 15 – had said she’d never say, “I love you.”


End file.
